At 11 p.m. Saturday night, Guta and I were sitting in the kitchen contemplating our day off on Sunday and what to do. We were both clear on two things: staying in our dingy apartment would be boring and depressing, and no more shopping. After tossing a few ideas around, we decided a day at the beach would be ideal, and what better place to spend ( Read more... )

This morning, Guta and I said good-bye to our sweet apartment and moved down one floor to a smaller, darker, dirtier apartment. Annette moved to the fancy Raj Palace to finish up her Indian stay in style with A/C, continental breakfast and a big clean swimming pool to splash around in. We're sharing our little place with Li who's here from ( Read more... )

love the food ( Read more... )

My roommates and I have been contemplating the essence of this lineage of yoga that we're immersed in. I believe it's multi-layered and faceted, and at the grossest level, the breath is fundamental. If the breath is our main source of nourishment--it is pretty well constant and we can't live more than a couple of minutes without it--isn't it ( Read more... )

After many hours of travel and a barely caught connecting flight (thanks to two young Irish men who let me in the security line at Franfurt airport. If it weren't for them, I would have surely missed my flight because the staff just shrugged when I saw the massive line at security and explained that my flight was already boarding and due to leave ( Read more... )

As the other side of the world is fighting for parking spots in the last shopping days before the big day, I'm wrestling with luggage. More precisely, juggling treasures from suitcase, to suitcase, to carry-on bags, making sure everything is within the weight and size limits allowed by Luftansa. It has been a fruitful trip in so many ways: ( Read more... )

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Ganesh is the name of the auto rickshaw driver that my friend Jim uses here in Chennai. Jim has been coming to Chennai for about 10 years now, and he met Ganesh on his first trip here. Ganesh was driving a rented rickshaw and making pennies a day after he paid the rent and gas, and drove the half hour into the city and back home each day. Jim ( Read more... )

It's 9 a.m., 25 degrees and sunny. The live Chennai weather website told me so. It also tells me that it feels like 28, but I can tell you that it feels like 23, or thereabouts. I'm sitting with the curtains drawn (discovered it helps to keep the mosquitos out) and the overhead fan on. In my safe haven, I can wear shorts and a t-shirt, which is ( Read more... )

It's hot...and humid. It's monsoon season and the neighbour allows his dogs to yap and bark and bark and yap infinitely all day and night. Only when it rains, it seems, does he let them inside. There's peace and stillness in those torrential downpours, unless of course, i'm walking somewhere, then it's just dodging puddles of indeterminate ( Read more... )